BLOOD AT LAST

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXII, Issue 19445, 3 November 1925, Page 7

BLOOD AT LAST

FIERCE FIGHT AT FREMANTLE A THOUSAND STRIKERS ATTACK POLICE BATON CHARGE SPLITS MANY HEADS A fierce fight occurred at Fremantle, when police were attacked hy strikers who had gathered on the wharves to prevent the steamer Borda getting away. During the battle, which lasted two hours, the police made a baton charge, with the result that the wharves resembled a battlefield. Reinforcements are being rushed up, and instructions have been given for the police to fire if the strikers rush them. By Telegraph—Per Press Assn.—Copyright.

WILD SCENES AT FREMANTLE POLICE ATTACKED BY STRIKERS. EFFECTIVE BATON CHARGE. GUERILLA WARFARE CONTINUES Received Nov. 3, 1 a.m. PERTH, Nov. 2. Hostilities broke out between police and strikers alongside the steamer Borda to-day. In the battle, which raged for two hours, many men were severely injured. Fully a thousand strikers gathered on the wharves owing to a report that j an attempt would be made to get the Borda away. They threw stones, coal and iron bolts at the police, and rushed them. The police, numbering about a hundred, made a baton charge. The ensuing scene is said to have resembled a battlefield, men with split heads lying around everywhere. A mob rushed aboard the Argyllshire, where a striker, armed with a waddy, which he used freely, held the gangway. Eventually the police boarded the vessel and arrested about a hundred men after a terrific hand-to-hand fight. Guerilla warfare is now raging.

Reinforcements of police are rushing to the scene. The Commissioner of Police has issued orders instructing his" men to fire if again rushed. POSITION IN BRISBANE MOKE SHIPS “BLACK.” POLICE USE BATONS BRISBANE, Nov. 2. A meeting of strikers declared black all vessels belonging to the Brisbane i Tug Company, as they had attempted I to convey free labour to several of the j held-up vessels. j Mr Morony, State president of the i Australian Railway Union, addressing j a meeting, said that if he thought by letting the cargo go rotten in the ships they would bring the strike to a I successful issue, then ho would say I “Let it rot.” Another speaker advocated declaring black all vessels entering Brisbane including foreign ships, because the shipping industry was an international combine. There was a series of clashes between the strikers and members of the crew of the steamer Rimutaka, who returned to work. The police were compelled to use their batons to quell the disturbances. There were no casualties.

CLEAR OF ADELAIDE i ENTON SAILS ADELAIDE, Nov. 1. The motor ship Enton sailed without experiencing further trouble. STRIKERS REPATRIATED SOUTH AFRICA’S ACTION CAPE TOWN, Nov. 1. A further 270 strikers from Wynberg Camp have been repatriated in the Kinfauns Castle. Only six now re- ' m<ain. WONGANELLA HOLD-UP DEADLOCK CONTINUES. [Per Press Association.] CHRISTCHURCH, Nov. 2. A further meeting of the Local Disputes Committee was held this morning at Lyttelton to consider the watersiders’ demand of 3s 3d per hour, plus 15s bonus, for discharging 700 tons of phosphate now on board the Wonganella, which vessel was loaded at Nauru. The employers, it was stated, would not accede to the demands of the men, but were prepared to pay the award rates of 2s 71d an hour. No trouble has been experienced at other ports in obtaining labour to work this class of cargo. A deadlock was arrived at during the meeting, and the matter will be again referred to the National Disputes Committee. FASCISTS IN MELBOURNE DENOUNCED BY STRIKERS PERTH, Nov. 2. Addressing a meeting of strikers, the chairman of the overseas strike com-mittee-said that one of the important aspects of the.present industrial situation was the Fascisti movement in Melbourne. The man at the head of the movement was a civil servant in the I Customs Department. He added some of the strikers joined the organisation ,to act as spies, but found that the ob- | ject of the movement was to uphold | loyalty in tho event of an attempted 1 revolution and provided rallying points where loyal citizens would find definI ite proposals for assisting the authori itics were they taken unawares or I overpowered.